On 18 November last year at Sage Gateshead, Roger Norrington left the concert stage for the final time. A programme devoted to his favourite composer, ‘Joe’s the guy’ Haydn, brought the curtain down on an illustrious career that had totally changed the way we listen to music. Thanks largely to Norrington’s benign radicalism, we now take almost for granted historically accurate orchestral layouts, authentic instruments and playing techniques, flowing tempos, aerated textures and senza vibrato (without vibrato, ‘that wobbly stuff’).
Looking back 60 years to when it all began with the Schütz Choir and London Baroque Players, I wonder whether Norrington had always seen himself as a musical crusader. ‘In fact, I really didn’t have any idea where it was going to go,’ he smiles. ‘I was 28 when I formed the Schütz Choir, and at that point I was thinking in terms of being a busy amateur musician – conducting, singing and playing. There was absolutely no thought of my building a career out of it. My formative musical experiences included seeing Furtwängler and Beecham
